A weblog for professionals in electrical, electronic, mechanical and software engineering with content provided by the members of the Long Island Consultant's Network.

July 11, 2017

Globe Magnetic Poles - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I noticed an annotation on our little world globe. In northern Canada, we see the lettering "North Magnetic Pole". This notation is WRONG!!! and has long been a minor pet peeve of mine.

If the responsible cartographer ( I use that term reservedly in this case. ) had simply added a suffix of "ern" to the first word of this three word phrase, I would have no issue. Then "North" would instead have appeared as "Northern" and would be factually correct.

Occasions have arisen now and then when I found myself in discussion with some folks who just can't get this straight. Eyes glaze over. Speech becomes slurred. Deep breaths get taken.